Email to Coalition NDIS spokesperson Melissa McIntosh

Thought I’d add some clarity to a comment I saw in the media today, so I whipped up a quick email.

 

It was sent to: melissa.mcintosh.mp@aph.gov.au

 

Dear Mrs Melissa McIntosh MP,

 

I would like to thank you for your comments today in the ABC article “State and territory disability ministers lash federal government’s NDIS changes” (https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-11/state-and-territories-lash-ndis-changes/106785788).

 

In particular, can I draw your attention to where you said:”Coalition NDIS spokesperson Melissa McIntosh said it would be “unacceptable” if any people with disability were caught between systems.”

 

For myself, and many people with a disability, this is not an if, but a current reality. We are already stuck between systems. The NDIS Bill as proposed will not create a new situation, it will add more people to an existing situation.

 

I have tried multiple times to get non NDIS supports. State and local governments have failed me, and the NDIS routinely rejects people with my disabilities, claiming they are only “health conditions”, as if that magically means they don’t disable those living with the condition(s).

 

The NDIS Bill as proposed is just going to condemn people to the life I live, one of unsupported disability, where I face choices non disabled Australians would never have to face. Most people can’t even comprehend the choices we have to make to get through a day. And we have to do this every day, knowing there are no supports for us.

 

I hope that as Coalition NDIS spokesperson that your party is working to not only make sure the Bill does not pass, but that voices of people with a disability are always centred in decisions that impact our lives.

 

Thanking you in advance for whatever you can do to stop the NDIS Bill.

 

Kind Regards,

Vanessa Smith

 

 

Update:

I received a reply from the office. A partial excerpt:

 

Thank you very much for writing to my office to raise your concerns about the Albanese Labor Government’s changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and in particular for explaining how being “stuck between systems” is not a future risk, but something you are already living through.

 

I am very sorry to hear about the challenges you have faced in trying to access both NDIS and non-NDIS supports. What you have described – being unable to access support because your condition is classified as a “health condition” rather than a disability – is deeply concerning, and I recognise how frustrating and distressing it must be to continually encounter these barriers while still needing day-to-day support.

 

I appreciate you sharing the reality of the choices you are forced to make without adequate support. These are exactly the kinds of lived experiences that must be properly understood and considered when changes to the NDIS are proposed.

 

 

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